IE users have lower IQs

Emma Woollacott, 29th July 2011

Still using Internet Explorer? Ooh, you thickie. According to Canadian psychometric consulting company AptiQuant, IE users have lower IQs.

The company offered free online IQ tests to over 100,000 people and then plotted their average IQ scores against the browser on which the test was taken.

And it found that Internet Explorer users scored lower than average; Chrome, Firefox (that's me!) and Safari users were a tiny bit higher than average, and users of Camino, Opera and IE with Chrome Frame had 'exceptionally higher' IQs.

It's not really all that surprising. A lack of compatibility with current web standards means that Internet Explorer has trouble handling many otherwise perfectly functional websites - it's the reason web developers hate it.

It's no wonder that the less technically competent - and presumably less intelligent - amongst us are more likely to carry on putting up with it.

While IE still dominates the market, it's increasingly losing market share to open source browsers such as Firefox and Chrome, which offer better standards compliance. And who has the enthusiasm and competence to install an alternative? The geeks, of course.

"This latest report about the intelligence levels of IE users is expected to create a storm," concludes AptiQuant.

"With the results of this study, IT companies worldwide will start to take a new look on the time and money they spend on supporting older browsers."